Maharashtra medical admissions: Domicile certificate must to get state quota seat

Medical and dental aspirants, who have not cleared Class 10 from Maharashtra, will have to provide a domicile certificate in order to claim seats under the 85% state quota

Medical and dental aspirants, who have not cleared Class 10 from Maharashtra, will have to provide a domicile certificate in order to claim seats under the 85% state quota, said an order passed by the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court on Thursday. The court dismissed a review petition filed in the matter by the state Directorate of Medical Education & Research (DMER), giving a nod to the currently stalled medical and dental admissions in Maharashtra.

The order states that seats under the Maharashtra quota should be made available for students who have either cleared both Class 10 and Class 12 from the state or can provide a domicile certificate in case they have not cleared Class 10 from Maharashtra.

“Since the admissions process is already delayed, we had requested the court to give an order at the earliest. Since lawyers representing parents also didn’t have a very strong case, the court has directed the government to verify domicile certificates of candidates who have not cleared both Class 10 and Class 12 from the state before confirming their admissions,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, director, DMER.

Read: Maharashtra medical admissions: Bombay high court adjourns DMER review plea on state quota till Thursday

The review petition filed on July 25 was to only allow students, who have cleared both Class 10 and Class 12 exams from the state to be eligible for the 85% state quota seats in government-run and private institutes. On July 7, the court had relaxed the domicile rule, allowing students who appeared for Class 10 from other states to be eligible for seats under the state quota. “Now that domicile certificates will be verified, no applicant from other state will be allowed to claim a seat in public and private institutes of Maharashtra,” said Shingare.

However, parents of medical aspirants in the state, who had raised objections to the July 7 order, are not pleased with the current order. Many felt students from outside Maharashtra might still have a chance at state quota seats. “It is not very difficult to get a domicile certificate, so we are back to nowhere. We can only pray that our children don’t lose out on seats because of such last-minute changes to the rules,” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent.

After an initial delay, the DMER was yet to release the first seat allotment list at the time of going to press at 11.30pm on Thursday.